The present invention relates to an access door or panel for a refrigerated appliance. More specifically, the present invention relates to an access panel hingedly coupled to a refrigerated appliance.
Refrigerated appliances having one or more refrigerator compartments and/or freezer compartments are generally known. It is generally known to provide such refrigerated appliances with a removable panel to provide access to mechanical or electrical components that control or operate the refrigerator (e.g., for maintenance, repair, installation, cleaning, etc.). However, access panels are typically mounted with fasteners (e.g., bolts, snaps, etc.) that may be (undesirably) visible or difficult to access or remove/operate. Also, when used on larger refrigeration systems (particularly those that also have a decorative panel), the access panel is typically heavy, which makes its support or attachment susceptible to fatigue and unwieldy when being removed and reattached. Further, in instances were a hinge is provided to combination or integrated refrigerated appliances, the hinge only provides for pivoting or rotation of the panel about a single axis, which requires an undesirable amount of clearance between the panel and its environment in some installations.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a hinged access panel for a refrigerated appliance that allows multiple axis/plane/direction movement of the access panel. It would also be advantageous to provide a hinged access panel that is retained in the open position when desired and/or biased to the open position to assist opening. It would further be advantageous to provide an access panel with a hinge linkage that allows both pivoting and translational movement to allow clearance with its adjacent environment. It would be desirable to provide for an access panel hinge for refrigerator having one or more of these or other advantageous features. To provide an inexpensive, reliable, and widely adaptable access panel that avoids the above-referenced and other problems would represent a significant advance in the art.